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As pointed out in this morning’s print edition, the City Council could soon vote on an agreement with Manuel Benavidez‘s attorneys. The proposed agreement is based on a single-member election system that would see six council members elected from single-member districts with the remaining two council seats and the mayor being elected at large.

What the story doesn’t have is some details on how the proposed districts are drawn. If the current proposal was eventually approved by both sides and the judge, at least one new person living in a largely Hispanic area could join the council in May.Continue reading →

The City Council at its work session today indicated it will continue exploring what kind of single-member voting system to put before voters in November. Mayor Herbert Gears today said its unclear how or if that will affect the lawsuit the city plans to appeal in which a federal judge said there could be no more council elections until single-member districts are created.

Council member Joe Philipp said the city needs to pursue its appeal, work with plaintiffs in the lawsuit to draw districts and also hammer out something to put before voters in November.

A proposed minimum $5 fee for residents to bring items to the city landfill didn’t appear to gain much traction with the City Council at today’s work session. Officials questioned the point of the fee (revenue stream or cost recovery?) and asked whether city staffers had considered raising the fee for commercial haulers. Council member Joe Philipp said he would prefer the latter. He and council member Allan Meagher also worried that charging a fee would lead residents to dispose of things improperly or hide brush or other items in their black garbage bags.

“I want to encourage people to come down there and to reasonably and responsibly dispose of things,” Philipp said.

And it also appears council members spend a lot of time hauling stuff to the landfill themselves. They had lots of discussion about their experiences disposing of stuff. And they raved about the attitudes and friendliness of the staff.

“We have the best employees working down at the landfill,” Mayor Herbert Gears said.

The City Council‘s discussion of the proposed new McDougal agreement at today’s work session centered on costs for the land purchases and key construction deadlines. The council is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to loan money to cover the interest on a $2.65 million loan Heritage Crossing developer Delbert McDougal took out to buy up eight properties. Council member Joe Philipp asked real estate and development director Brenda McDonald what assurances the city has that the properties are being bought at a fair market value.

“He in essence is sort of establishing the market value in Heritage Crossing,” McDonald said.

McDonald also said that because most of the properties have buildings on them, McDougal is paying more than if they were bare parcels of land. And, she said, the city is tracking the cost per square footage on the properties McDougal purchases.

–Irving Community Television Network will feature Place 4 Councilman Lewis Patrick and Place 8 Councilman Joe Philipp at 7 tonight on Open Line. Residents are encouraged to call 972-721-2300 or send an e-mail to ictn@cityofirving.org during the show with questions. The show will broadcast live on ICTN 1 (Time Warner Channel 16, Verizon Channel 30) and online.

–Anytime from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, head on over to the Irving Arts Center to watch the assembly of the Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion. The 3,000-piece model is being put together without nails.

Beth Van Duyne asked that six items be pulled from the consent agenda at tonight’s City Council meeting.

Van Duyne was in Washington D.C. this week for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ceremonies honoringsix of Irving’s businesses. Her flight was delayed and she didn’t get to the work session yesterday until tonight’s agenda items had already been reviewed.

As she went through her questions tonight, her colleagues repeatedly threw out there the fact that some of what she was asking was discussed yesterday.

It’s official: Irving City Council members Rick Stopfer and Joe Philipp won in landslide victories tonight. Combined with Lewis Patrick’s unopposed win, the council won’t be changing up at all this year. That makes the second year in a row that you Irvingites re-elected all incumbents. The last incumbent to lose was James Dickens back in 2007, who fell to Tom Spink.

With 12 of 68 precincts reporting, Irving’s incumbent City Council members look like they will pull off dramatic landslide victories. Rick Stopfer leads Bola Ayanbule by a ratio of nearly 9 to 1. And Joe Philipp is beating Don Van Slyke by a ratio of more than 3 to 1.

Irving City Council incumbents Rick Stopfer and Joe Philipp are handily beating their respective opponents Bola Ayanbule and Don Van Slyke after early voting results. Council incumbent Lewis Patrick is unopposed.